Ship flag of Söderala

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Ship flag of Söderala

The ship flag of Söderala ( Swedish Söderalaflöjeln ) is a Viking Age ship pennant that was discovered on the steeple of the church of Söderala near Söderhamn on the east coast of central Sweden . The ship pennant shows openwork ornamentation and is decorated in pure Ringerike style.

The 35 cm long ship flag from Söderala shows next to the fully plastic sculpture of a horse, magnificently decorated dragons and snakes. The typical ornamentation in tendril technique winds around the openwork representation. The non-offset edge is apparently intended for the attachment of a strip of fabric or other attachments.

Ship flags have the shape of a wing and are also known as weather vane or "Vejrfana". These are made of metal ( copper , bronze or gold-plated metal) and therefore preserved specimens of Viking Age heraldry , which instead of the well-known dragon heads sat on the fore stems of the ships, were removable and occasionally survived on church towers. A rune staff from Bergen in Norway shows the "Laidang" (the fleet), in which only a few ships have the stern decorated with kites or banners. This suggests that only the ships of kings or important leaders had such flags on the bow. In the saga literature , gilded ships' flags of the same type as those of Söderala are described several times.

The Söderala flag is now in the Historical Museum in Stockholm . A copy is in the church in Söderala.

So far, three other flags have been found: the flag from Heggen and the flag from Tingelstad , both from Norway, and the flag from Källunge on Gotland in Sweden .

literature

  • Nils Magnus Åmell: (1885-1968); Första antikvitetshandelns resa på cykel genom Medelpad - marked besök i Stöde - upptäckten av Söderalaflöjeln , commentator av Jonas Källström, Stöde hembygdsförening, Stöde, 1979, LIBRIS-id 485312
  • Rune Gustafsson: Söderalaflöjeln - ett mustigt bygdespel om vikingatiden , Videoupptagning, manus: Rune Gustafsson - producent: Rolf Bergstedt - director: Karin Gustafzon, Intryck Hälsingland förlag, Järvsö, 2004

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